AMTA Past President Ronna Kaplan talks about her experience at the recent "Sound Health: Music & the Mind" event, held in partnership with AMTA, NIH, NEA, & the Kennedy Center in her latest Huffington Post column: "Imagine the present, with concert halls and theaters full of musicians, neuroscientists, music therapists, researchers, clients, their family members, general patrons and lovers of the arts, and more."

"Sound Health: Music and the Mind" came to the stages of the Kennedy Center, June 2 and 3, 2017. June 3rd featured a series of workshops that included an interactive presentation curated by Dr. Sheri Robb titled "Breakthroughs in Music Therapy: Recovery, Resilience, and Quality of Life."

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. held a two-day event, “Sound Health: Music and the Mind,” honoring the power of music and music therapy. Kicked off with a National Symphony Orchestra concert on June 2nd, June 3rd featured a full day of sessions with interactive presentations and shows, including one curated by Dr. Sheri Robb, “Breakthroughs with Music Therapy: Recovery, Resilience, Quality of Life.”

This year, the National Memorial Day Concert honored Capt. Luis Avila, a military policeman severely injured after an IED explosion. During the performance segment, featuring acclaimed singer Renée Fleming, a special moment was dedicated to the importance of music therapy services for veterans. Capt. Avila and music therapist, Rebecca Vaudreuil, joined Ms. Fleming on stage to recognize the importance of music therapy in the rehabilitation of America's veterans.

Michael Silverman specializes in music therapy for adults with mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders. In this AMTA-Pro podcast, he talks about single-session music therapy for individuals dealing with complex problems with complicated solutions. Michael provides an overview of educational music therapy interventions, research literature, and how to expediently engage patients in treatment in acute care mental health settings.

Abbby Dvorak, Lindsey Landeck, Marie Lesiak, and Deborah Spiegel have extensive clinical experience working with Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and music therapy. DBT is an active treatment model building skills in four key areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Learn about ways DBT can enhance an MT-BC's music therapy practice as well as how music therapy may enhance and support DBT skills training in the clinical setting.

The editorial by Dr. Daniel Levitin, noted neuroscientist & New York Times best-selling author, was published in The Daily Beast this weekend. Dr. Levitin responds to anti-regulation arguments regarding licensure of music therapists & other professionals. He also emphasizes & champions the scientific basis & clinical importance of music therapy while differentiating from unrelated industries that do not serve vulnerable & at-risk populations in his piece titled "The Regulations That Do Work."

The AMTA Board of Directors’ 2017 Mid-Year meeting will be held May 31, 2017 through June 2; and June 4 through 5, 2017 at the Maritime Institute & Conference Center next to the Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport.

President Jennifer Geiger shares her regional presidential address given at each regional conference this spring. Couldn’t make it or missed it? Check it out here. Also take a peek at this year’s regional conference highlights and mark your calendars for regionals in 2018!

Mark your calendars for a major national event made possible by a partnership between the Kennedy Center, Renée Fleming and the National Institutes of Health, "Sound Health: Music and the Mind." A concert with the National Symphony Orchestra, renowned neuroscientists Daniel Levitin and Charles Limb, and a full day of sessions with interactive presentations and shows focusing on music and child development, music therapy, healthy aging, and improvisation are featured.

Sheri Robb and Amanda Henley discuss research and clinical practice implications of pilot study findings and details about the continuation of this study with research funded by a $1.4 million National Institutes of Nursing Research grant. This latest research project studies the effect of play interventions, such as active music engagement and storybook programs, on health outcomes in young children ages 3 to 8 undergoing chemotherapy treatment and their parents.

Florence Tyson was a trailblazing music therapist who began her work in the 1950s. In this AMTA-Pro podcast, three of Florence’s colleagues - Ken Aigen, Christopher Bandini, and Jeffrey Friedberg - share compelling stories about their work at the CARC, and about the significant impact of CARC and Florence Tyson on the lives of scores of individuals with mental illness as well as on the staff and community.​

Research on the use of music therapy for post-operative pain management conducted by Kirsten Nelson, MA, MT-BC, Mary Adamek, PhD, MT-BC and Charmaine Kleiber, PhD, RN, FAAN is available in the latest edition of Pain Management Nursing. The American Music Therapy Association provided funding for this project through the 2012 Clinician Based Research Award.